West Central to revive area

A first phase revitalization project for the West Central Neighborhood is slated for construction this year as part of an ongoing effort to improve the economy and business climate along an aging commercial district on West Broadway Avenue.

The $380,000 project will add street trees, period lighting, a decorative sidewalk and other amenities along West Broadway in the vicinity of Ash Street.

Funding for the project came through a $60,000 grant from federal community development money for the West Central Neighborhood and a state transportation enhancement grant of $320,000.

The idea is to encourage further investments in the commercial area which has classic old brick buildings that date back to the turn of the 20th century.

“It’s one of the most exciting things to happen in that area for a long, long time,” said George Craig, chairman of the West Central Neighborhood Council. He said the neighborhood council deserves credit for promoting and winning approval for the project.

The work involves about two blocks of West Broadway from the Maple Street overpass westward to Oak Street. Eventually, the neighborhood hopes to get a second phase approved to complete the improvements from Walnut to Elm streets, Craig said.

Impetus for the work dates back to adoption in 2001 of a new citywide centers and corridors land-use plan that seeks to enhance commercial activity in existing centers. Most centers are older business areas that are underused and in need of new investment.

In West Central, residents, and business and property owners worked with a city planner to come up with the enhancement plan. Then, the West Central Neighborhood Council through its community development steering committee pledged $60,000 in its annual grant funds to work as a match on state funding.

The state money came from a transportation program intended for street enhancements.

Kevin Brownlee, of the city’s Community Development Department, said the West Broadway project mirrors work done in several other commercial areas of Spokane over the past quarter century.

Street enhancements were added to the South Perry business district about eight years ago. Other projects were done on West Garland Avenue in the mid-1980s and in Browne’s Addition at Cannon Street and Pacific Avenue in the early 1990s. All of those commercial areas have seen increased business activity.

On West Broadway, the plan calls for installing the same type of period street lights that are being used on the Monroe Street Bridge. The sidewalk will be enhanced with planters for trees, benches and trash cans. A new sidewalk will be finished with a 4-foot-wide strip of stamped concrete to look like brickwork, Brownlee said.

“The goal is to encourage further investment in adjacent properties,” he said.